The Maui Police Department’s new helicopter saw its first action fighting fires Thursday as authorities extinguished a brush fire that closed Piʻiholo Road at Makawao Avenue.

According to Don Shearer, the owner of Windward Aviation, which is contracted to fly helicopters for Maui’s police and fire departments, the fire department’s Air 1 helicopter was undergoing maintenance Thursday afternoon.

As a result, the new MPD helicopter, which is outfitted to fight fires, flew into action along with another helicopter from the Maui Fire Department. With support from above, Maui firefighters had the blaze under control within a couple of hours.

Shearer said this brush fire was especially concerning because it was burning directly upwind of the Oskie Rice Event Center and near potent fire fuels such as eucalyptus trees.

Maui is also currently under a red flag warning for leeward sides of the island. Red flag warnings are triggered by high winds and low humidity and signify a heightened fire risk.

“It was kind of the real deal,” Shearer said of the blaze. “It could have gotten bad really quick. Thank God there was a water source super close to where the fire was, and we were able to assist the fire department on the ground with airdrops.”

Shearer explained that because the Maui Police Department and Maui Fire Department have mutual aid agreements that allow each the use of the other’s helicopters when theirs isn’t available, this was the first time MPD’s new asset was used in a firefighting capacity.

“It’s a big win for the county,” Shearer said of MPD’s new helicopter, which was honored in a blessing ceremony on July 25.